Sew: Atomic Betty Bowler Handbag {Hooray for Handmade Handbags!}

This is my second time making up the Betty Bowler Bag from Swoon Patterns. I adored the first one but eventually the oilcloth started to crack in areas where the bag naturally folded. So for those of you wondering how the first one held up, I am hard on my bags and got nearly a year of perfect use from it. It held up better that my Mimco, Nine West or Guess bags ever did. Still, it made me very sad that cherry Betty was done but then the idea of a fresh new bag was exciting! The inside lining of the cherry is still perfect, so I’m hoping to reuse that in a future bag.

The hardest part about making a second bag was finding fabric that I loved enough to use daily. After many hours of online searching found these gorgeous (yet pricey) fabrics! They are printed here in Australia and are available as fabric but also made up into home furnishings and garments. As soon as I saw these ‘stick’ fabrics, I was transported to Grandmas kitchen. She had a chopping board with a similar motif and barkcloth curtains in these tones. And in an odd twist of coincidence, I am typing up this post on Grans birthday (it would have been her 100th today). So nice to think of her and how she would have asked me why I made a bag from the curtains she had donkeys years ago. Cost be damned, I needed these fabrics! Well cost couldn’t be damned but Mummy Ask knew of my deep desire and bought them for my birthday (she’s so sweet! A fabric gift, oh yes). I saw the fabric and then I envisioned  gold piping, hardware and zipper. I had a 1/2m of each of the stick fabrics, used the black cotton twill leftovers from this dress as the lining and found the square rings, zipper and piping on ebay.

Again, I made some changes to the pattern. I omitted the front zipper and large and small stripes. They are very cute but I prefer a pocket. I keep current vouchers in there and my phone too. The open pocket is so good for storing my phone. It keeps it safe yet handy. I also added slip pockets in the lining on both sides, rather than just one. On one side the pocket is divided in half and stores my prescriptions, bits of paper and business cards. The other pocket is divided into four and stores makeup, pens and my beloved sharpies. Just like the last one. This set up is 100% perfect for my life right now!

I knew that there would be a few Betty Bowlers in my future and I also know how much I hate all the cutting out that comes with bag making! All those layers of fabric and interfacing. To make life easier, I printed out the pattern (some pieces more than once) and glued them onto thin cardboard from cereal boxes. So much easier to simply trace around them then. I spent two full days marking, cutting and fusing everything. As you see, the pressing surface I made for Mummy Ask got a workout! When I made the cherry one, I didn’t have quite so many pieces because you can’t interface oilcloth. This part felt pretty tedious but there is nothing like starting your sewing day with everything prepped and ready to roll! Plus I felt oh so thrifty when I managed to cut all my black pieces from awkwardly shaped dress scraps. Small wins like this always make me feel the project has been blessed by the sewing fairy and that things will go smoothly. It’s an obvious sign, right?

 

When I originally planned this bag, months ago, I thought of getting an embroidery place to put a design on the front pocket. But by the time I got around to sewing the bag, I had the Silhouette machine. Mr Ask created a page of various mid century, atomic symbols on gold heat transfer vinyl (HTV). To cut a very long story short, my iron died. So all the cutting, sewing, fusing and heat transfer happened at Mummy Asks. I got the heat transfer all set up and ready to go but when I ironed it on to the pocket – disaster! The iron had a hot spot and I cooked the HTV! It took forever to peel the backing and then I knew it was terrible. We all sat and stared at the pocket, trying to tell each other it wasn’t so bad but it really was! After some pondering, I flipped the pocket and arranged the remaining  heat transfer images and very gingerly ironed them on and success! I actually like the second side better (crisis averted) and the hokey, pun loving side of me is thrilled that there is an actual rocket in my pocket. Curiously satisfying.

Then there was nothing more to fiddle with, it was time to start the sewing. The piping first, then the pocket and straps. It was all going smoothly and I was enjoying the sewing. Making the lining and inner pockets is similarly satisfying. Even getting the zipper into the outer went super smoothly. Nothing too awkward yet and it really feels like things are coming together fast. You can imagine how nice it’s going to look too.

 

But then comes that very special time, in the making of every bag, where you have to put it all together. It’s always the worst. You are trying to align everything perfectly because this is your everyday bag and mistakes will drive you nuts for ever after. I am so glad I still had the sewing clips from the last bag because the multi layered beast cannot be penetrated by my fine Japanese pins. Now you have to maneuver this behemoth of a bag, with its layers of interfacing under the presser foot. Not an easy feat, especially when you are using a tiny (and thusly less grippy on the feed dogs) zipper foot, so you can get close and personal with the piping. But I got there, I made it and it looks phenomenal!

 

Suddenly, when its all done, you realize just how awesome you are because you made something that is just that cool. Like a mother forgetting a painful birth, the sewing trauma recedes and the “OMG I love it” begins. And that is what bag making is all about for me. I was feeling pretty high on my achievement. And then I showed Mr Ask. Mr Ask is always complimentary about my sewing achievements but somehow thinks I’m capable of almost anything and is therefore rarely wowed. But this time he was astonished! He told me that he thought the bag was more like an engineering feat, something near impossible to create outside of a manufacturing setting and that he was convinced that sewing actually is my super power! High praise indeed!

 

Of course, I love it and have been using it everyday. I think the Swoon pattern is amazing and I’m sure they don’t mind that I gave it my own twist. I plan on making on making one of their wallets in future, from matching fabric. I like wallets that I can shove my phone into for quick supermarket trips. In fact I planned to make one when I made the bag but I was gifted me the sewing themed wallet (seen in a few shots) from Dangerfield and I’ll be sticking with it until it dies. Until then, you can be safe in the knowledge that this crazy blogger has a rocket in her pocket……